This is so great…and dead on accurate.
Thanks for all the suggestions. I will send the recs to my friend (Zach) and hopefully provide some feedback.
FWIW, I previously explained that part of the reason he wasn’t enjoying the wines his wife was drinking was due to the wines she selected (ex: Clean Slate Riesling). I gave him a primer on good Riesling, explaining that quality sweet white wine does exist and it’s glorious.
FIFY
Dry Creek Vineyards Zin and for pinot something along the lines of an Oregon wine from Cloudline, A to Z or Erath. Also, The Shebang Cuvee that the folks at Bedrock are involved with are tasty.
I’ve had the St Cosme CdR 2016 several times and I would give it a year or two to smooth out. You may also want to try some Burgogne’s from the 2014 & 2015 vintage.
Snag a bottle of Bedrock Shebang Red Blend. Easy to find, Easy on the wallet, and VERY easy to like.
Popped (errr… unscrewed) one the other day in small town CO with in-laws who are not into wine at all (very similar to ops friend) and everyone was going nuts over it. Taking pics, asking where to find it, etc.
…and it’s a wine you can actually enjoy with them as opposed to many of the wines mentioned in this thread.
Ha! Didnt see this until I just posted. Totally agree with the Shebang. Perfect red wine for this scenario.
Well played man!
This!
The Alto Moncayo Veraton can be found for around $30, if not slightly under. It’s one of those wines in which most everyone can find some enjoyment. I took the big brother Alto Moncayo to a blind wine tasting party once with mostly novices and it was the first bottle emptied.
I have a difficult time recommending anything I wouldn’t drink to friends, so at the “under $30” and “readily available”, this is the first thing that comes to my mind.
I would have recommended Shebang in a heartbeat, but I haven’t seen it in Chicago for ages.
For what it’s worth, his response:
Ha thanks man. I forwarded your riesling over view and she loved it. She said she wants to try them all.
Honestly, I’m hesitant to buy a $35 bottle of wine after she’s used to drinking sub $10. I feel like she/we need to work up to that to appreciate it.
I pointed out that many of the wines were sub-$15. I’ll follow-up out of interest.
Ridge Paso Robles zin, Dusi ranch, a fruit forward wine but its still Ridge. Have hooked a few inexperienced wine drinkers with that one over the years. Turley makes a Dusi bottling, seems like some other wineries do as well but can’t think of them off hand.
Agree with the Turley juve rec (low/mid $20s) or what you have or can find for a $30 zin.
There’s a lot of reasonable suggestions down below, but they’re all based on insufficient information, IMO. No one’s asked the obvious (to me) question: what kind of sweet white wines does she like: Willi Schaefer kabinett, Huet demi-sec, generic Washington state riesling, satellite appellations of Sauternes, Madiera, or what?
I am told that red wine is a gateway drug to chocolate cake.
Actually drinking another Shebang with the inlaws as we speak. This is the bottle you want. If I can find this in small town CO, its gotta be available somewhere in Chitown
Oh, I forgot about Shebang since It’s hard to find in the Chicagoland suburbs, but that is a good entry red wine.
Was going to throw in my .10 worth and say Shebang, but beaten out.
Spanish Garnacha, and Monastrell if feeling bold, can be a broad category to play with. Lots of versions in most markets so you don’t have to find ‘this producer’, and the acidity is generally lower even when not necessarily sweet. Also lots of variation in oak treatments without getting too expensive. Have found people ‘think sweet’ when they just want less astringency.
My guess is that she drinks her coffee with tons of cream . . .
Zin is certainly a good choice - that ‘apparent sweetness’ generally makes it appear a lot less bitter than other wines. And that’s the key - she probably wants to avoid bitterness/astringency.
I think that most of the Orin Swift wines would work - Prisoner, etc. Yep, they may not be ‘board faves’, but they definitely get the job done.
I also like the Garnacha idea - Tres Picos, for example, should fit the bill.
My 2017 aberration would work perfectly - but not available in Chicagoland unfortunately . . .
Just think ‘smooth’ without ‘rough edges’ and you’ll be fine.
Cheers.
Also would throw some South Italian/Puglia/Calabria reds into the mix, depending on the availability. Less acidity and generally good values when you can find them, but the wines are built to be food friendly versus cocktails, so the residual sugar is lower.
It would be fun to see how tasting the wines played out.
I don’t see you as an Apothic advocate, and I do get your point.
But I still think Freisa is a great grape for a person like this, not because it’s hipster but because it plays to the refreshing fruity side, and I would guess/bet(and perhaps lose) on that type of wine.
And Corey’s second thought of Zin is still because that’s the grape we all passed that phase in. And it’s on every shelf and neither Freisa or Lambrusco are.
Happy to disagree here, Poulsard is not part of my list because I think your point is valid, but not all hipster swill is the same.
Douro Reds are my go to for a cheap approachable wine that is a crowd pleaser.
Anything brought in by Jorge Ordonez